Cutting block



Aug. 3,- 1943. I I M. MAEsl-:R

` Parented Aglja, 1943 i i `a 'corporation inventionrelates cutting blocks and is herein illustrated asembodied in a cutting block adapted for .use in 1connection with dies or `hand knives forcutting blanks from sheet material,

for example, shoe upper-'s from leather.

, `i'Ifhe-prncipal requisites of material for blocks A used in thecuttingof blanksl from sheet mate-U rial are that it offer sumcient resistance to a cuttingiudie or; knife to render it possible to make a `'cleancut through4 the material operated upon in` forming 'a blank, that it be sufficientlyyielding,

sothat the edgeV of the cutting tool is not' dulled rapidiy and, Vatfthe same ti-me, 'mata be `highly resistaritto`` wear;V Wood, rubber, paper, and

other substances have been commonly used,iwith 1 kvaryng degrees'ofsuccess, asuvblockumaterials.

A'ttempts have alsobeeri made to use'` plastic i i materials in` forming cutting, blocks. However, considerable difliculty' 'has been experienced `in `utilizing lplastic materials for this purpose, be-

causeofthe fact that if the `plastic used is of sumcient hardness to resist penetration of a cut- I `ting tool, itis also 'found to'be fbrttle to the exi :tent that itchips outreadily underthe `action of the cutting ``edge-of the tool,,with the. result that the cutting surface of `the block `wears` away j` rapidlyg' If, on the other hand, Va comparatively i soft plasticjmaterialis used,` it hasbeen found;

.that diesior knives will readily -penetrate' it and i stickfor that the cutting surface isnot sufliciently resistant to penetrationto make itgpossible to obtain a cleancut throughthe sheet materialbeir'ig,V

= of plastic materialinwhichare embedded celluzlosic fibers; .such as sisal henip` fibers, extendingf substantiall parallel toeachotherin directions normal Vto `the cutting surfaceof the block; dThis jgconstructionis highly'advantageous, in `that the fibers adequately support the material tofbeo'percutting tool to theextenttrequiredto produce a vclean cut.` `Prefera-blxjd av thermoplastic4 comparai' i tively soft atxroom` temperature is used,`since 'the V'iibers `tend to holdit together.V Consequentlg J it has been found that the material does not-chip out,` with the result thatthe` blockhas excellent wearing qualitiesI ,Furthermore this material i forms al cutting surface which is highly effective :f MietifMaeseaBeverly, Mae; assgri4-t-finita V i ShoeMachineryfCorporation, Flemington, 'i NewJel-se j: 4, 1

i In'addition, thefcutting surface can -I'ealy be Fig. 1 is a'perspective LFig. 2 is a perspective view 'of one of thevblook sections forming the block; and

, on an enlarged scale of aportion of the block. i

As shown, thecutting biockfcomprises a plu-` A ralityof rectangular sections orplates l 0,.each i of which is provided 3 witha riblji' extending i along oneV end and one sidethereof, and a recess Ut extending along the otherside and end of 'the ,Lfiber's 4`22V are `embeddedfin plastic 'material' 26,

.ablyconiprisingl thermoplasticresin.

tendlinthe same direction, fand thermoplastic Imaterial in powdered form isiintroduced i'ntojthe 275` F.. Land pressureis applied' at: about 1,000

block jfsection, Onev `materia`.-l` suitable` Vfor this H `purpose is a thermoplastic resin available under 5o u u -`room temperature tobe dented by the flngerlnail. 'Ifheapplication of heat and pressure inthe molds rent, AsV aresult of uns, anja theractthat'the;

withoutthe necessity of 'abrealringuifl oprfatim i. g u

repaired by pass'ing avhotiiron overfthe ,block v surface, melting the thermoplastic material suffii A heal the cuts produced by the cutting` i I'hese and 'other features the invention are` illustrated4 in the following specifica'tion and' in w the'accompanying drawing. and'arepointed out view of ajcutting block `constructed in`accordance1with`fthe invention;`V 1

' Eig. 3` is a perspective view, partlyin section,

piate. v`The plates are lassembledV togetheriin tiers,

adjacent plates of each tier Vand of adjacent tiers` li being' interlocked byiplacing the ribs l2 in adcomposed of abody`V I v `f portion, `comprisingi cellulosic fibers 22, Fig. 2,,

angles to a fiat upper face which forms a-portion of the cutting surface N of the:4 block. These s which has been `moldedrto \the shape described;

A suitable moldingcomposition consistsessen- 1 tially of-from 55% to `by weight of rawuisisal i r I i hempfibers, and thebalance of a binderiprefe'r! I In producing thejbiocksecfionensisal fibers are Vplacedin `a mold in such a way`that`they all exl mold, after which the molds are heated to about o I Jpounds per square inch to produce the resultant atedf. upon, yet readilypermit penetrationof a heiime Themempreferablyhving me1t1ng pointlof about F. and being soft enough at 'V causes theplastic material`` to surround each of f M the sisalflbers and to coat it to a considerable 'ekmaterial is comparatively soft at roorn temperature, the block is to a large extent self-healing.

That is, after a cutting edge has vpenetrated the i block surface, then withdrawn, there is a tendcutting operations Vperformed' upon the block sur- -face, thus prolonging'the life of the block. At the i i vsame timethe'fibers form an adequate Work sup-^ port which cooperates withvcutting tools topro- `duce a clean cut through the material operated u V upon. Y

Havingk described iny invention',V what I claim .the United States is:

1. Acutting block cmprising a vbod-y portionk ascez Y s r V I terminating in afiat cutting surface, saifbody portion being composedrof plastic material havf ing embedded therein sisal hemp fibers extending perpendcular to the cutting surface.V

2. A cuttingdblock comprising a Vbody portion beddegi in a matrix of the'rrnoplastic material.

I 3. A cutting block formed of thermoplastic.A material having embedded therein sisal hemp' v -fibers extending normal to the cutting surface of Vthe block. i V

4. A molded cutting brick formd of sisal hemp fibersarranged in substantially parallel relation i I and bonded together byrthermoplastic AmaterialY -v as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of i I Which is comparatively soft at room'temperature.

'MIETH MAVEsERf`V 

